Top of page

Manuscript/Mixed Material You're a Grand Old Flag

Image: Genl. George Washington Genl. George Washington: the father of his country. Currier & Ives, [ca 1856-1907]. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flyin' flag
And forever in peace may you wave . . .

"You're a Grand Old Flag" was written by George M. Cohan for his 1906 stage musical George Washington, Jr. The song was introduced to the public in the play's first act on opening night, February 6, 1906, in New York's Herald Square Theater. It was the first song from a musical to sell over a million copies of sheet music.

The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, "She's a grand old rag." Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune "You're a Grand Old Rag." So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a "rag," however, that he "gave 'em what they wanted" and switched words, renaming the song "You're a Grand Old Flag."

It was in George Washington, Jr. that Cohan worked out a routine with this song that he would repeat in many subsequent shows. He took an American flag, started singing the patriotic song, and marched back and forth across the stage. Music such as Cohan's "You're a Grand Old Flag" helped create a shared popular cultural identity as such songs spread beyond the stage, through sheet music and records, to the homes and street corners of America.

The musical comedy stage of the early twentieth century drew heavily on vaudeville for both material and star quality. George M. Cohan had experienced success in vaudeville as a member of his family's group, the Four Cohans. After a break with the Keith vaudeville circuit, George Washington, Jr. became a hit for Cohan on the "legitimate stage." Critics tended to hold Cohan's musical comedy in low esteem due largely to the wisecracks and musical bits it owed to vaudeville, but the general public seemed to find it good fun.

The show actually gave rise to one of the more interesting exchanges in theater history between a drama critic and a producer. Writing for Life Magazine the reviewer James Metcalfe discussed both George Washington, Jr. and its writer, lyricist, composer, co-producer and star -- George M. Cohan.

Mr. Cohan's personality and accomplishments are quite worth notice . . . consisting mainly of several bars of well-known patriotic or sentimental songs strung together with connecting links of lively and more or less original musical trash . . . mawkish appeals to the cheapest kind of patriotism. "George Washington, Jr." is a fair example of his playwriting . . . Mr. Cohan is not to be blamed. In fact, from the American viewpoint that moneymaking is the test of real success, he is highly to be commended as a successful American. If he can bring himself to coin the American flag and national heroes into box-office receipts, it is not his blame, but our shame . . . "Life" recommends its readers to go to see Mr. Cohan's performance. There could be no stronger appeal for the betterment of the American stage - no fiercer commentary on the debased condition of the intelligence of a large part of the theatre-going public."

Cohan responded to Metcalfe, as was his way, on the 4th of July 1906 in The Spot Light (Vol. II, No. 3).

I write my own songs because I write better songs than anyone else I know of. I publish these songs because they bring greater royalties than any other class of music sold in this country. I write my own plays because I have not yet seen or read plays from the pens of other authors that seem as good as the plays I write. I produce my own plays because I think I'm as good a theatrical manager as any other man in this line. I dance because I know I'm the best dancer in the country. I sing because I can sing my own songs better than any other man on the stage. . . . I write these little stories because I think I write them better than other writers of stories. I play leading parts in most of my plays because I think I'm the best actor available. I pay myself the biggest salary ever paid a song and dance comedian because I know I deserve it. But believe me, kind reader, when I say, I am not an egotist."
Image: Miss Ethel Levey Miss Ethel Lev[e]y. Arnold Genthe, photographer, December 29, 1921. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Ethel Levey, who was married to Cohan, was a member of the original cast of George Washington, Jr. Gilbert Sildes, author of The Seven Lively Arts wrote that she displayed "something roughly elemental, something common and pure; whatever she did had broadness and sharpness both." Levey walked out on George Washington, Jr. (both the show and its alter-ego Cohan) in 1906 while they were performing in Cleveland but continued a lively career, which included work in London.

With and without Ethel Levey George Washington, Jr. ran from February 12, 1906 to April 23, 1906 and, following a national tour, had a one month return engagement in New York from February 11 through March 11, 1907.


Learn More About It
Related Web Sites
Print Bibliography
  1. Browne, C. A. The story of our national ballads. Revised by Willard A. Heaps. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1960. Call number: ML3551 .B88 1960.
  2. Ewen, David, ed. American popular songs from the Revolutionary War to the present. New York: Random House, 1966. Call number: ML128 .N3 E9.

About this Item

Title

  • You're a Grand Old Flag

Created / Published

  • Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 2002.

Headings

  • -  Popular Songs of the Day
  • -  Songs and Music
  • -  Songs Collections

Genre

  • article

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

Copyright and Restrictions

The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as holders of publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. There may be content that is protected as "works for hire" (copyright may be held by the party that commissioned the original work) and/or under the copyright or neighboring-rights laws of other nations.

Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Users should consult the bibliographic information that accompanies each item for specific information. This catalog data provides the details known to the Library of Congress regarding the corresponding items and may assist users in making independent assessments of the legal status of these items as related to their desired uses.

Items included here with the permission of the rights holders are indicated as such in the bibliographic record for each item.

Because of copyright laws, songs from the twentieth century may not be represented by very many items on the Web site. While every effort has been made to obtain permission to use these songs or portions of these songs, in some cases this has not been possible. Therefore there may be no recordings or paper items to illustrate those songs. In some instances, the rights' owner may have only granted permission to use a portion of the material online. In those cases, only 30-second excerpts of sound recordings are used, and only one or two pages of print or manuscript materials are used.

The use of U.S. Armed Forces sound recordings in no way indicates an endorsement of the Web site by any branch of the Armed Forces.

In some cases, the Library was unable to identify a possible rights holder and has elected to place some of those items online as an exercise of fair use for strictly non-commercial educational uses. The Library of Congress would like to learn more about these materials and would like to hear from individuals or institutions that have any additional information or know of their history. Please contact: Performing Arts Reading Room.

Suggested credit line: Library of Congress, Music Division

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

You're a Grand Old Flag. Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 2002. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200000026/.

APA citation style:

(2002) You're a Grand Old Flag. Library of Congress, Washington, DC. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200000026/.

MLA citation style:

You're a Grand Old Flag. Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 2002. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200000026/>.